Tag: Penguin Books

The Costa Children’s Book Award shortlist is announced

This year's Costa Award category shortlists have been announced. Of course, the category closest to our hearts is the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award. Here's the shortlist:

The category winners will be revealed on Monday 6th January 2020 and the overall Costa Book of the Year will be announced Tuesday 28th January 2020.

Have you read them all yet? Got some catching up to do? You can get all four shortlisted books in a special offer bundle for £30. Get reading, as we'll be sharing our thoughts on the shortlist and creating some polls to see who you think should win.

About the Costa Book Award

Launched in 1971, the Costa Book Awards is one of the UK's most prestigious and popular book prizes and celebrates the most enjoyable books of the year by writers resident in the UK and Ireland.

Uniquely, the prize has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book – with one of the five winning books selected as the overall Costa Book of the year and each category is judged separately by a panel of three judges per category. The Costa Book of the Year is then chosen by a nine-member panel which includes representatives from the original panels who are joined by other well-known people who love reading.

Books are entered by publishers and entry for the Awards closes at the end of June each year. The author of the Costa Book of the Year receives a cheque for £30,000, presented at an awards ceremony at the end of January.

Books of the Year have included ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon, ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ by Kate Atkinson and ‘The Amber Spyglass’ by Philip Pullman.

The judges for the Children's Book Award for 2019 will be:

  • Charlotte Eyre (Children’s Editor, The Bookseller) 
  • Bali Rai (Writer) 
  • Danny van Emden (Children’s Buyer and Deputy Manager, West End Lane Books)

Billy and the Dragon by Nadia Shireen

Our fearless heroine Billy is back! Whilst at a fancy-dress party, something terrible happens: Billy’s loyal sidekick Fatcat is kidnapped by a fire-breathing dragon. Uh-oh! But luckily for Fatcat, Billy won’t stand for that: off she goes on a brave rescue mission… Join Billy for a fairytale adventure with a twist.

We love Billy and her amazing hair where she keeps all her useful things. We're so glad she's back to inspire more children with her strength and positivity. Full of fun and mild peril, and with Fatcat begrudgingly along for the adventure, young children will be transported to a land of danger and dragons and savage fluffy bunnies. Never too scary, Nadia Shireen cuts through the peril with exquisitely timed humour, creating a brilliantly paced story that will have young children bouncing along in delight.

You can order your copy from our online shop here